What turns me away from a new RPG?

A few things:

  • Generic setting or no setting – I already have enough game engines. I don’t need another “universal” ruleset that isn’t really universal, and I don’ t need another directionless “Fantasy” setting with no real hook to it.
  • AI Art/Text – Nope. I’m not paying you to write prompts for a theft engine.
  • Not escapist enough – I have immense respect for various PbtA flavors (Masks, Monsterhearts, etc.) that want to examine deep relationships… I’m also tired from a long day at work and want to blow something up or punch a fascist in the nose. The moral dilemmas I want from a Superhero game are how to avoid collateral damage, not whether or not Sempai will ever notice me.
  • Our 5E is different! – If I want to play superheroic high fantasy skirmish, I’ll play 5E. If you want to sell me on generic fantasy settings/systems, you need to get far enough away from 5E to actually be doing your own thing.
  • Too much crunch – Sorry, but that ship has sailed. I already have too much DnD floating around my skull. You’ve got to build something simpler and cleaner if you want my attention. I’m too busy to memorize 100+ pages of new rules.
  • High Fatality – Both highly-fatal OSR games, and anything remotely “call-of-X”. I like some danger in my games, but PCs dropping like flies isn’t fun for me.
  • Overly opinionated design – “We have found the Only Correct Way To Play RPGs and will now save you from all the things you’ve been doing wrong!” Yeeeah, no. I’m looking at you, Dungeon World. You and your friend Blades in the Dark can go find another table.
  • Grimdark – “This is a world where only the STRONG and VICIOUS survive.” Cool. Glad that’s fun for you. Me? I’ve got zero interest in sociopathy simulators.

So what constitutes a good game then, since I seem to hate so much stuff?

  • An interesting setting or premise – Settings like Spelljammer, Numenera, UVG, or Vaults of Vaarn are very much my jam. Often I have to swap out the ruleset to get something playable though.
  • Good play-at-the-table support – Can I picture actually USING your content? Hot Springs Island, Trilemma Adventures, Gardens of Ynn.
  • Clean (or at least interesting) rules – A bunch of PbtA stuff, Knave, Crown and Skull, big swaths of the OSR (tempered heavily by my gripes above).

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